The Welfare State Nobody Knows: Debunking Myths about U.S. Social Policy (Paperback)

by Christopher Howard (Author)
Key Phrases: inclusive social programs, less traditional tools, new tax expenditures, United States, Food Stamps, Earned Income Tax Credit (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
The Welfare State Nobody Knows goes a long way to fill in the gap left by previous research intended to quantify and categorize the American welfare state. Howard's combination of quantitative and qualitative tools is refreshing.
(Carrie A. Ross Journal of Children and Poverty )

The Welfare State Nobody Knows is without doubt an insightful, provocative, and wide-ranging book that should reach a broad scholarly audience. In the classroom and in scholarly publications, the book will undoubtedly stimulate lively debates about the nature, history, and politics of American social policy. All students of American social policy would benefit from reading it.
(Daniel Beland American Journal of Sociology )

Review
Forget what you thought you knew. Christopher Howard takes us on an eye-opening, mind-expanding, entirely unexpected tour of the American welfare state. He describes a big, popular, sprawling, often Republican system that--thanks to cherished American institutions like federalism--does not work very well. Smart, wise, synthetic, funny, and iconoclastic--The Welfare State Nobody Knows is required reading for everybody who wants to know about welfare, about politics, or about the United States.
(James A. Morone, author of "Hellfire Nation" and "The Democratic Wish" )

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Product Details

• Paperback: 280 pages
• Publisher: Princeton University Press (July 21, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0691138338
• ISBN-13: 978-0691138336
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #284,649 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Informative, concise, even witty, remarkable social science, July 24, 2007

By	Richard Gibson "Rick Gibson" (Woodland Hills, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Welfare State Nobody Knows: Debunking Myths about U.S. Social Policy (Hardcover)

This is a book describing the American welfare state. It is a very good book in a number of ways.

First, it tells you alot of things you don't already know. It is genuinely informative.

Second, it is concise. It is a fairly comprehensive book, and it comes in just over 200 pages.

Third, it is actually -- believe it or not -- well written. Howard is witty. Not Mark Steyn witty, not make you laugh out loud witty, but -- by the standards of this field -- this book is a good read.

Fourth, the book does not have any obvious ideological bias. Howard knows the difference between facts and opinion, and draws attention to it. He discussed the widespread belief that the American welfare system is inferior to that of Europe, because it is smaller and transfers less income. He then notes that this a moral judgment, and not one that he is going to draw. On a fairly consistent basis, Howard honestly tries -- and mostly succeeds -- to just describe things and to not lecture us about our moral inferiority compared to Sweden.

The book does not really have a central argument; it is kind of all over the place in what it is saying. The main idea is that the American welfare state is bigger than people think, because it includes alot of indirect but huge tax programs and regulations. This is an important point, that should be more often stressed.

Howard concludes by discussing how the American system has failed, compared to Europe, to redistribute income and to promote equality. Howard, as he makes fairly clear, agrees with most of our academic class in thinking that the system should redistribute wealth from the rich to the poor.

Howard, however, does not just give you his opinion. He asks the question, do the American people want to resdistribute income from rich to poor. He does a detailed study of the polling data on this question.

He finds that most rich people would prefer to hang onto their money. No surprise there. He also finds, however, that relatively few poor people want the government to redistribute wealth from rich to poor. THIS is surprising. You would think that people on the bottom of society would favor taking money from Bill Gates and giving it to them.

But no. The American Dream tells the poor, work hard, and you or your kids could BE the next Bill Gates. Our system, in short, says focus your energy on lifting yourself up, not tearing others down. The majority of Americans believes in this.


Howard tees off on this surprising poll finding into a general discussion of exactly what the American welfare system (broadly defined) achieves. He compares the system to a stationary bike. Alot of huffing and puffing, but no movement. What he means, of course, is that very little net income is being transferred from the rich to the poor.

I understand why Howard thinks this is no movement, but I disagree with him. No, our system does not soak the rich and give to the poor, in large enough amounts to radically alter the distribution of wealth. That is not the purpose of our system; as Howard documents, very few people want that result, in ths country.

Despite that, alot of money does change hands, due to our system, and this has a big effect on our society. Look at the mortgage interest deduction, for example. This is basically a massive, if slightly indirect, goverment subsidy which primarily benefits the middle class. Many more examples could be given, from the tax treatment of private pension plans to that of health care benefits. (The only really large exception to this statement is the Earned Income Tax Credit, which genuinely tries to uplift the poor..)

Virtually all of these policies benefit the middle class. Their purpose is to make life more secure, and less risk-filled, for the broad middle, those who work hard and play by ordinary American rules. And this, if you think about it, is exactly what you would expect a democratic government to do in a middle-class country. It reflects the values, and the interests, of the majority of the voters. I, for one, do not find this either surprising or disturbing.

5.0 out of 5 stars Good Introduction, December 12, 2007

By	Kendra Kuehn - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Welfare State Nobody Knows: Debunking Myths about U.S. Social Policy (Hardcover)

Professor Howard's book is definitly a good introduction to the welfare state in America. As mentioned previously it includes a wide range of programs and provokes many unique questions. I would highly recommend this book to anyone potentially interested in social policy. (Also if you happen to be a W&M student I highly recommend you take one of Prof. Howard's classes!)